Recommendations wanted - Barebones MId-Tower for new Home Server

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openmedia

3047 posts

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#114167 10-Feb-2013 21:10

Ok the home server at 6+ years use is now not happy and needs replacing. Probably bad Caps, but at this age it could be anything.

Currently an AMD 3000+ CPU on an A8N-VM CSM board (Gen 1 myPVR hardware), with lots of Raid1 storage

Replacement needs

Good general Linux support (surprise surprise)
1 x PCI Slot for an IDE Adapter (needed to access some old drives + IDE DVD+RW)
Gigabit ethernet
Case capable of handling 10-12 HDs

I have a 3-4 HD expander for 5 1/4 bays I can use to help with this

Motherboard ideally capable of atleast 16GB Ram
Onboard Video - VGA / DVI
Intel/AMD - I'm open to options
USB 3.0
Quad Core

I don't need

Hard Drives
OS
DVD-RW
floppy ;)

Nice to have

Quiet CPU and PSU + Case fans
Easy access for HD Swap outs
6+ Sata ports onboard

Any recommendations on a combination, or perhaps an Auckland based supplier as for once I'd like to pickup this as a pre-configured unit and just drop my HDs into it.

Reliable at a reasonable price for 24/7 use.

Steve

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

sidefx

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#759343 11-Feb-2013 10:36

I guess it depends what budget you're looking at... I was looking on a real budget recently and was considering the following combination. (In the end I decided I didn't need that many HDDs so went for an even cheaper case)

Case: Bitfenix Shinobi - I think with HD Expander it should house 12 or so HDDs. Apparently thermals aren't great out of the box, but toss a couple of extra fans in and it's all good.

Mobo: Asrock B75 pro3-m - 8 Sata ports, 4 Ram slots, USB 3.0 and cheap. And I knew I'd probably never want to overclock on home server and lack of RAID didn't bother me as I rely on greyhole.

CPU: I guess you'll want to go i5 for quad core but I just went with a cheap pentium G645 since I didn't need much grunt in the server.

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Electric Kiwi | Sharesies
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browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#759389 11-Feb-2013 11:44

I have a AMD X2 3800+ CPU and a A8N-VM CSM (ver 1) motherboard at home doing nothing. Attached to it 2GB Corsair RAM, Thermaltake 80mm CPU cooler. It was all working as of July last year.

Yours for a reasonable price.

Cheers
db

Home Server: AMD Threadripper 1950X, 64GB, 56TB HDD, Define R6 Case, 10GbE, ESXi 6.7, UNRAID, NextPVR, Emby Server, Plex Server.
Lounge Media Center: NVIDIA Shield TV 16GB: Kodi18 with Titan MOD, Emby.
Kids Media Center: NVIDIA Shield TV 16GB: Kodi18 with Titan MOD, Emby.
Main PC: Ryzen 7 2700, 16GB RAM, RX 570, 2 x 24"

browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#759393 11-Feb-2013 11:49

I went with a Gigabyte board (GA-970A-D3) and AMD 6 core CPU (6200) on a recent home server upgrade, it is running VMware ESXi 5.1 with no issues and 16GB ram.

cheers
db

openmedia

3047 posts

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#759548 11-Feb-2013 15:00

sidefx: I guess it depends what budget you're looking at... I was looking on a real budget recently and was considering the following combination. (In the end I decided I didn't need that many HDDs so went for an even cheaper case)

Case: Bitfenix Shinobi - I think with HD Expander it should house 12 or so HDDs. Apparently thermals aren't great out of the box, but toss a couple of extra fans in and it's all good.

Mobo: Asrock B75 pro3-m - 8 Sata ports, 4 Ram slots, USB 3.0 and cheap. And I knew I'd probably never want to overclock on home server and lack of RAID didn't bother me as I rely on greyhole.

CPU: I guess you'll want to go i5 for quad core but I just went with a cheap pentium G645 since I didn't need much grunt in the server.

Thanks for the motherboard tip. the B75 chipset looks like quite a good bet.

Problem is finding an appropriate case as a lot of places only seem to stock fancy gamer cases.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

browned

636 posts

Ultimate Geek

#759566 11-Feb-2013 15:34

http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/classic_series/source_210_elite

8 x 3.5" and 3 x 5 1/4"

and cheap at about $100 or less.

openmedia

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#759617 11-Feb-2013 16:33

browned: http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/classic_series/source_210_elite

8 x 3.5" and 3 x 5 1/4"

and cheap at about $100 or less.

Nice.. Simple and sexy

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.